All in the Past
by wibblywobblywesteros
Summary: Nell's past comes back to haunt her and endangers her co-workers.
1. Chapter 1

Another day at NCIS LA was wrapping up and the teams were all on their way out the door. Hetty called to Callen from her desk before he could leave.

"Mr. Callen a word please." Hetty said.

He turned and came to her desk, taking a chair in front of it. "What is it?"

"Are you aware Mr. Callen, that Miss Jones has not gone home for the past three nights?"

This was news to him. "No, I wasn't. Have any idea why?"

"I'm afraid not." Hetty sighed. "I do know that she has seemed on edge the past few days. I've done some investigating into her life and everything seems normal. I'm at a loss."

"Have you tried just asking her?"

"Of course I did and she claimed everything was just fine. I doubt that she sees me as a friend or confidant...she may be chatty, but Miss Jones isn't especially close to anyone in this office. She keeps her personal life, personal. Kensi hasn't been told anything either. If you were to talk to her, you'd have a better chance than I would as her employer." Hetty said.

"I'll try." Callen nodded, knowing it wasn't a suggestion, but having some doubts that he would be able to be much help.

Callen found Nell in opps. The monitors were all turned off except one. She sat watching the view of an apartment building. It looked familiar to Callen, it took him a moment to realize where it was.

"Nell, why are you monitoring your own house?" Callen asked her.

She jumped, startled. "I didn't know anyone was still here. Did Hetty send you?"

" I would have come anyway if I had known. What's going on Nell?"

Nell looked away from him, focusing her attention on the screen. She was trying to hide the tears in her eyes.

"Nell?" He put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's a long story..."

"I've got plenty of time." Callen said, taking a chair.

"I was married once, for almost two years during college." Nell said, her eyes didn't leave the monitor. Callen took a chair and sat down next to her. "I barely knew him. It was a really stupid thing to do. For about a month everything was okay. Then we had a disagreement, and he beat the crap out of me. My family had thought the marriage was a bad idea from the beginning and I was too ashamed to tell them they'd been right...so I stayed. It took a really long time to find the courage to leave him and file for divorce...but when it was over I was really careful to keep him from finding out where I work and where I live...I don't know how he found me." Nell finally took her eyes off the screen to look at him. "He found me one other time since the divorce. In the end he broke into my house..." She didn't want to go on.

"What happened?" Callen was angry at the idea of anyone hurting her.

"When it was over I spent four days in the hospital."

The two stayed silent for several minutes, finally Callen spoke up. "Why didn't you tell any of us Nell? We would have helped."

"I'm supposed to be the smart one. I don't like people knowing how stupid I can be."

Callen nodded, half understanding her reasoning. "Well you can't stay here. Not when you have friends who'll look out for you."

"I'm safe here...Wesley probably doesn't know about this place and if he does I doubt he'd try breaking into a federal agency."

"Yeah, but do you even sleep or do you just stay up all night watching the security camera?"

She glanced at the screen again, knowing he was right. "I've barely slept for the last four days." Nell admitted.

"You need to stay with someone. You can stay with me or with Kensi or Hetty if you're more comfortable. But staying here, awake and alone isn't a good idea."

"No. Not Kensi or Hetty. Wesley is a big guy. He fractured my jaw and three ribs with his bare hands. I know they can take care of themselves better than I can, but he could still do a lot of damage."

Callen took note of the fear in her eyes. "Okay, not Hetty of Kensi. I'm already here, so you might as well come home with me."

Nell bit her lip, lost in thought for a moment. Then she nodded. "Okay." She stood and grabbed her bag from a hook in the corner.

Nell was unusually quiet for the ride. "I'm going to have to move again, aren't I?"

"Maybe." Callen said.

"I'm sick of moving. I've already done this ten times."

"Nell, does your family know about this? Do you have a brother or someone who could come and stay with you?"

"It's not that simple." Nell said. "I wasn't born a Jones. They adopted me when I was thirteen. In high school I got into a lot of trouble. The schoolwork was too easy and I hated everyone because of all the abuse I'd been through. Believe it or not, I'm the black sheep of the family. It's better if they don't know that I'm in trouble again..."

"I think they'd understand that this isn't your fault."

"But it is my fault. I made the choice to marry him against their wishes. This past year, they seem to have forgiven me for all that. I'm not gonna stir it up again."

At Callen's house they had frozen pizza for dinner and they sat on the sofa and watched TV. Nell's exhaustion was beginning to show. Soon she fell asleep, head on Callen's shoulder. He didn't move from that spot but let her sleep there for the rest of the night, eventually falling asleep himself. In the morning they awoke hugging, her head on his chest. Neither remembered when that happened but it didn't matter. It was somehow comforting to be so close.

"What happened to your biological parents?" Callen asked her over breakfast.

"I don't know. I was abandoned as a baby. I don't even know who they were. I lived in nine different foster homes before I ended up with the Jones family. Some of the places I lived weren't so bad. Others were a nightmare."

Callen nodded, he understood the nightmare having experienced it himself. "You never talked about this before. You just let us all believe you had a normal childhood."

"Wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I would, if I could."

Back at the office, Hetty pulled Callen aside again to check on Nell.

"Were you able to find out anything from Miss Jones?"

"I was. I took her home with me last night."

"And you aren't going to share what she told you?" Hetty raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think it's my place to do that."

"You are probably right about that Mr. Callen." Hetty told him, pouring her tea. "At least she is being taken care of."

The day went on and they worked on their case. Towards afternoon Hetty decided to send Nell to a crime scene to do her work. The team was gathered in opps. Nell paled when she heard the news but she didn't argue or complain. As they all filed out of opps, Callen stopped Hetty.

"Hetty, let me go with Nell. Sending her alone isn't a good idea right now." Callen said.

"I don't like all this secrecy. But I trust your judgement Mr. Callen. It will be up to you to inform Sam about the change of plans." Hetty said.

Callen found Sam at his desk, waiting for him. "Change of plan." Callen said. "I'm going with Nell to the crime scene. You got this one on your own."

"What's going on G? Since when do partner up with Nell?" Sam asked.

"Since she was taken hostage the last time we left her alone."

Sam nodded. "Hetty has sent her to the field a couple times since the hostage situation. There's something else going on."

"There is... but it's not really my place to give that information out." Callen said.

"It's okay." Nell said from behind them. "You don't have to keep secrets for me Callen. It just makes people not trust each other. You can tell him. I'm gonna go get my stuff ready." She left the partners alone.

"Well?" Sam asked.

"Nell's been sleeping here at the office and not going home for the past four days. Turns out she has an abusive ex-husband who she's been trying to hide from for the past couple of years. This week he found out where she lives. She told me that the last time he found her she spent four days in the hospital."

Sam glanced up the stairs to opps, concerned. "Okay, we both go with her. Then we'll bring her back here and pick up the suspect together."

Callen and Sam talked with their usual banter as they drove to the scene with Nell. Worried, she kept glancing out the back window for signs of being followed. They went several blocks before she saw what she'd feared. A red truck, driven by a big blonde man pulled up behind them. She had no doubts about who was behind the wheel. He had apparently discovered the general area of her workplace and had been waiting for her to pass by.

"Umm...guys..?" Nell interrupted them. "We're being followed."

Callen glanced back. "Is that him?"

Nell nodded.

"We've got two choices." Sam said. "Either let him catch us and arrest him, or lose him. It's up to you Nell."

"He hasn't actually done anything yet so...He's not going stay in jail long if you do arrest him." Nell said.

"No, not long enough." Callen said.

Sam understood. He drove faster, losing their tail long before they reached the crime scene. It was a little too easy and they knew it. To their surprise, a red truck was parked at the crime scene when they arrived.

"What the hell?" Sam said.

"He must have hacked into our computer system." Nell said.

"I didn't think anyone could do that. It's a secure system." Callen said.

"Wesley can. He's a genius."

Callen and Sam gave her a look.

"Sorry, I have a weakness for smart men." Nell shrugged.

"Well, hacking into the computer system of a federal agency should earn him some jail time." Sam said. "Let's go."

A search revealed that the building was empty. The guys were a bit dissapointed.

Nell looked at the floor, trying to hide the few tears that were slipping out. "He's not here. He's just trying to mess with me. He wants me to know that I can't hide from him. Chasing me is like a game to him. A game of live chess and he just called check."

"What's his next move?" Callen asked.

"The last time, he kidnapped my best friend and wouldn't let her go until I agreed to come out of hiding and just go home alone. I don't have close friends anymore for that very reason. He'll have to make a different play this time. Maybe it will be a co-worker, or maybe something or someone more public but...eventually...checkmate..."

"Why Nell? Why does he keep doing this?"

"He likes the game and I happen to be smart enough to understand how to play it."

Callen's phone beeped signaling an incoming text message. "It's just a string of numbers." Callen said, looking at the text.

"Let me see." Nell said, taking his phone. "These are coordinates. It's too early in the game for this to be anything but a clue to the next move."

"I'm gonna have to fill the others in on this." Callen said. "Wesley has to be out of the way before we can finish our case."

"Okay." Nell nodded.

The three went back to opps and Callen called a meeting. Even Hetty and Granger joined in.

"Do you want to start?" Callen gave Nell the opportunity to begin.

She hesitated, then spoke. "Five days ago I got an email from an annonymous email address. The only thing in the contents was my home address. I didn't have to trace it to know who sent it but I ran the trace anyway. It was sent from a University Library. The same Library where I first met the sender, my ex-husband, Wesley Geiger."

She gave them a moment for it to sink in. This was news even to Hetty because Nell had been careful to hide her past from everyone so that Wesley couldn't find her so easily.

"I divorced Wes in the first place because he was abusive, but he wasn't so willing to let me go. I've had to keep my identity, address, and everything hidden to keep him from finding me. He makes a game of chasing me, threatening, kidnapping my friends, and when he does finally catch up to me..." Nell put up a document on the monitor. It was a medical report for Nell Jones listing her injuries. Fractured jaw, three fractured ribs, sprained left arm , multiple contusions, a stab wound to the stomach, stab wound to the right arm, and a stab wound to the left leg requiring 22 stitches.

"Where is he now?" Deeks asked, concerned.

"We don't know." Callen said. "He hacked into NCIS computer system and left a message for us at the crime scene. Wherever he is, we've got to get him out of the way."

"Nell, why didn't you tell any of us this?" Kensi said, a little bit hurt.

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt."

"All that matters now is keeping Miss Jones out of danger." Hetty put in. "Agreed?"

They all nodded and began working on a plan to check out the coordinates they had received.

"How come you didn't mention any of this before?" Eric asked her, while the others were busy.

"Because it was a stupid mistake, the whole marriage. I don't like talking about it." Nell said, she found something to do on the computer across the room and walked away.

A few minutes later she left opps and went downstairs to find Callen. He was at his computer looking at a map of the coordinates. Nell took a chair from Deeks empty desk and sat down next to him. "I've figured out the next move, and I think you have too." She told him.

His eyes met hers. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry." Nell was near tears again. "I should have realized that Wes would know where I went last night and that he'd see that as a threat. I was so tired last night I wasn't thinking clearly. He sent the coordinates to your phone which makes you a player in his sick game now...I'm sorry."

"What happens if I refuse to play?"

"He'll come after the most vulnerable people close to you. Which means Sam's family could get pulled into this mess."

"Then we put them into a safehouse and we wait for our chance to arrest him." Callen said, angry but not at Nell.

"No." Nell stood. "I'll go. I'll go to the coordinates myself. I'm not having any more people get hurt because of me."

Callen stood, blocking her way. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "There is no way that I'm going to let you do that. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Okay?"

For the first time since the ordeal began, Nell finally began to crumble under all the pressure. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Not knowing what else to do, she took a step forward and hugged Callen. He put his arms around her and hugged her back, holding her until she stopped sobbing.

Arrangements were made that day for the safety of Sam's family and everyone else knew to proceed with caution when going home. Once again, Callen brought Nell home with him at the end of the day, though they didn't go to his house, they went to a safehouse instead. Deeks would be meeting them there sometime later. Once inside, Nell went straight to the kitchen and began rummaging through all the cupboards and cabinets. Callen stood in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed, watching her angry search.

"I can't believe they don't keep any tea in this place!" She said, slamming shut a cabinet door.

"I can't believe how much you have in common with Hetty." Callen grinned.

Nell shook her head. "I don't have enough in common, Hetty wouldn't have gotten herself into this mess."

"Maybe not, but she's been in some other ones. Everyone makes mistakes, they're not supposed to define us."

"I guess you're right."

Over dinner, they talked more about their childhoods and a little of their adult past. They sat rather close together on the sofa to watch TV that evening and soon, without even realizing it, they were cuddling as they watched. Callen had his arm around Nell and she lay on his chest with one arm across him. Deeks arrived and grabbed a beer from the fridge. He sat in a recliner and said nothing about their behaviour. They hadn't meant to fall asleep like that a second time but neither of them wanted to leave and go to bed so they slept on the sofa just as they had the night before.

Late in the night Nell awoke. She felt safe in Callen's arms, but she knew that she was too young, too cute and not beautiful enough, for him to ever feel the same way that she felt about him. Carefully, she got up from the sofa and went to the kitchen. Nell stood staring out the window lost in her thoughts. She couldn't believe that she'd done it again, fallen for the wrong person. In the meantime, she still had an ex-husband out to ruin her life. She'd cut herself off from all close friendships to keep those friends safe, her adopted family believed that she was finally stable and successful so she couldn't turn to them for help, and now she found herself with feelings for a man who would never see her the same way. Nell felt utterly alone. She wept silently, gazing out the window. She almost didn't hear Callen join her in the kitchen.

"Can't sleep?" He asked from somewhere behind her.

"Nope."

"Maybe the bed would be better than the couch." Callen suggested.

"I doubt it." She still gazed out the window, refusing to look at him.

"This safehouse isn't in the computer system. There's no possible way he can find it. You're safe here." He came closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know. That's kinda the problem. For the first time in a very long time, I feel completely safe."

"How is that a problem?" Callen didn't understand.

Finally Nell turned from the window and met his gaze. "Because it just is!"

Seeing the look in her eyes, he started to comprehend her meaning. "No," Callen said, "It isn't a problem. Really."

Her eyes were filled with questions but Callen didn't answer her with words. Instead he bent and kissed her, slowly and longingly. Soon their arms were wrapped around each other as they kissed for a long while by the kitchen window. The sound of Deeks clearing his throat from the doorway pulled them apart.

"Um...sorry..."Deeks began, "But Hetty just called...she says Nell's apartment is on fire..."

"Shit." Nell said under her breath.

"Yeah. Hetty says the fire department has it under control but it looks like there won't be a lot left. Sorry Nell." Deeks said. He walked away, back to the bedroom he's been using.

Arms still around her, Callen gave Nell a kiss on the forehead. "Maybe you should try to sleep." He suggested.


	2. Chapter 2

Nell went back to bed as Callen suggested but she didn't sleep. There was simply too much on her mind for sleeping. There was Wesley, and her burning apartment, and then there was Callen. She tried not to put too much meaning into the fact that he had kissed her. He had always been protective of her since shortly after they started working together. Maybe it was just a sentimental moment and nothing more. She couldn't allow herself to think otherwise. Not only would it hurt too much assume the wrong things, she couldn't afford to be distracted by her feelings right now. She told herself that over and over as she tossed and turned and failed to find sleep. Finally, she gave up and took out her laptop to do her own research on the computer.

It was just past dawn when she heard the sounds of Deeks and Callen making breakfast in the kitchen. Nell went out to join them, taking her computer with her.

"Did you sleep at all Pixie?" Deeks asked.

"Not really, but I did find something." She opened her laptop on the table in front of her and the guys came over to see what she had found. "These are the coordinates the Wesley sent to Callen." She showed them an image.

"That's the ocean." Deeks said.

Nell nodded. "It was the site of a shipwreck over one hundred years ago. The ship was salvaged in 1986 and placed in this museum." She showed them another picture.

"Hey, I've been there. They have this gold mine tour and you can eat authentic foods the miners would have eaten." Deeks said.

"You would remember the food wouldn't you?" Callen commented.

Deeks shrugged.

"Anyway, I don't think Wesley meant for us to go to wreck site. I think he meant for us to go to the museum. Did I mention the name of the ship? The Eleanor." Nell told them.

"I think he's trying to say, you're going down." Deeks said.

"But she isn't." Callen said firmly.

"No, she definitely isn't going down." Deeks agreed.

"I'll call Hetty and fill her in." Callen said. He left the room, taking out his cell phone.

"It's gonna be alright, pixie." Deeks said, rumpling her hair. "It's gonna be just fine."

"Thanks." Nell said, forcing herself to smile.


End file.
